ALBANY — Fracking supporters lashed out yesterday at Gov. Cuomo for punting again on whether to green-light natural-gas drilling in the upstate Marcellus Shale.

The head of the state’s Independent Oil & Gas Association contrasted Cuomo’s stance with President Obama’s State of the Union call for more drilling.

But Cuomo defended his go-slow approach on the controversial practice that environmentalists fear will cause pollution and sickness but supporters say will create jobs and clean-burning energy.

“I’m not going to rush anyone,” he said after an event in Queens yesterday. “This is too important to make a mistake.”

State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox said New York continues to lose out to other states because Cuomo “doesn’t have the political guts to make the decision. He’s killed the natural gas industry here.”

“On one side of the border, in Pennsylvania, you have a thriving natural-gas industry and thousands of jobs,” said Cox — who sits on the board of the drilling company Noble Energy. “On the New York side of the border, it’s dead.”